WRAP:David Millar became the fourth diferent British rider to win a stage at this year's Tour de France after the Garmin-Sharp rider outsprinted Jean-Christophe Peraud (Ag2r-La Mondiale) to to finishing line following a 145-kilometre breakaway.

15.57 Matt Goss and Sagan riding side-by-side... Goss and Sagan almost collided before the Aussie took the lion's share of the points ahead of Sagan who was angered by the Orica-GreenEdge riders' movement.

15.55 As the peloton near the finishing line Team Sky sit near the front just behind Peter Sagan (Liquigas-Cannondale) who will be chasing the points as he looks to increase his lead in the points classification.

David Millar outsprinted the Frenchman to win his fourth Tour de France stage win on the 45th anniversary of Tom Simpson's death.

15.49 / 500m to go: Cat and mouse between Millar and Peraud.

15.48 / 1km to go: David Millar (Garmin-Sharp) and Jean-Christophe Peraud (Ag2r-La Mondiale) are eyeballing each other ... Millar takes the lead, Peraud glued to his wheel.

15.47 Cyril Gautier (Europcar), Robert Kiserlovski (Astana) and Egoi Martínez (Euskaltel-Euskadi) will, I think, have to scrap over the third spot on today's podium.

15.46 David Millar (Garmin-Sharp) and Jean-Christophe Peraud (Ag2r-La Mondiale) are out on their own with around 2km remaining. Looking good for the Briton.

15.45 Robert Kiserlovski (Astana) made a quick jump before David Millar (Garmin-Sharp) reacted.

15.43 Brief little attack from Egoi Martínez (Euskaltel-Euskadi) but was reeled back in. Cyril Gautier (Europcar) is taking it easy and doing absolutely NO WORK.

15.40 The leaders have passed the 5km to go mark. Still no obvious winner out of the five-man group. Incidentally, if Cyril Gautier (Europcar) were to win today's stage that would make it three successive wins for Jean-René Bernaudeau's Europcar team - the last time that was done was in 1991.

15.35 The five-man group have just 10km to the finishing line in Annonay. Am wondering if David Millar will make a break soon and turn to his time-trialling skills? Mind, bearing in mind he described his performance in Monday's time-trial as "a disaster" maybe not.

AndreasKlier, Millar's team-mate at Garmin-Sharp is rooting for the Briton ...

&lt;noframe&gt;Twitter: Andreas Klier - I know in cycling can happen so much..but &lt;a href="http://www.twitter.com/millarmind" target="_blank"&gt;@millarmind&lt;/a&gt; ..I hope the very best for your last 10km today...Hope He Win!&lt;/noframe&gt;

15.30 Robert Kiserlovski (Astana) was, again, the first man over the top of the category three Côte d'Ardoix climb. The peloton trails by around 11 minutes. Team Sky tapping away on the front of the bunch and have just passed the 20km to go mark.

13.05 The breakaway is holding their lead at 12 minutes over the peloton. Just one rider - David Millar (Garmin-Sharp) - of the five-man group has a Tour stage on his palmarès (list of wins) and so I can't see any of them gifting the Briton.

"In 1967 l was a very keen club junior cyclist and our chairman knew Tom well, emailsinChris Bishop."Was devastated when told of his death and have kept the Sporting Cyclist mag from that month"

And here is that magazine that Chris kindly snapped for us ...

14.45 Still absolutely nothing happening out on the road in today's very long transition day. Look, even the estimable EdPickering from Cycle Sport is in agreement ...

&lt;noframe&gt;Twitter: EdwardPickering - One of the Danish journos in the Tour press room has just said to me, "This stage is more boring than cricket."&lt;/noframe&gt;

There's just one more climb to come, the category three Côte d'Ardoix about 20km from the finishing line which will suit a rider like Peter Sagan (Liquigas-Cannondale) due to its uphill finish.

Meanwhile, here's a great picture of Team Sky's super-duper domestiqueMark Cavendish from French journalist Seb Piquet (‏@sebpiquet) as the world champion loads himself up with bidons for his thirty team-mates. Chapeau!

14.25 With a shade over 50km of the stage remaining the escapees' lead has increased to 12mins 20secs. Back in the peloton Mark Cavendish is showing himself on the front of the bunch alongside his team-mates who all appear fairly relaxed. Riding the tempo they are I wouldn't be surprised if they were to break off for a coffee and cake stop.

Terry Taylor, meanwhile, has emailed in with his memories from the 1967 Tour. "I was a young kid visiting Paris alone for the first time. I had seen De Gaulle and the military procession on the 14th.

"A week or so later I saw these cyclists coming into town with black armbands. I had no idea what was happening but someone told me an Englishman had died on the Tour. Just by coincidence I had been at school with Barry Hoban's brother who had told me his brother was a cyclist. What a small world eh?"

14.00 Britain's David Millar (Garmin-Sharp) was the first of the five-man breakaway to cross the intermediate sprint in Marcilloles to claim 20 points in the green jersey competition ahead of Cyril Gautier (Europcar), Robert Kiserlovski (Astana), Jean-Christophe Peraud (Ag2r-La Mondiale) and Egoi Martínez (Euskaltel-Euskadi). Their lead on the peloton is 11 minutes with around 70km of the stage remaining.

13.40 The escapees' lead is now up to almost 12 minutes. Not much is happening so I'm off for a cuppa.

13.25 The peloton, it appears, are quite happy to allow the breakaway their day in the sun as they extend their lead to almost nine minutes.

13.15 The leading breakaway have increased their advantage over the maillot jaune to six minutes now and I can see them holding on for the stage win.

Incidentally, did you know that today marks the 45th anniversary of Tom Simpson's tragic death on the ascent of Mont Ventoux during the 1967 Tour? If you're new to cycling, and I think a few are, you shouldread this featureon the rider nicknamed 'Major Tom' by our own Brendan Gallagher from 2007. Wonder if David Millar (Garmin-Sharp), a true historian of the sport, was thinking about this before the Briton made the break?

13.00 The peloton, which is just passing through the feedzone, has caught Peter Sagan. If the situation stays as it is there will be just one point on offer to the peloton in the intermediate sprint as there are 14 riders further up the road with the leading five-man group having a 2mins 5secs advantage on the maillotjaune.

12.50 With around 50km remaining before the intermediate sprint Matt Goss's Orica-GreenEdge team have moved to the front of the peloton as they look to reel in Peter Sagan. Goss, as you probably know, currently trails the young Slovak by 27 points in the green jersey competition.

12.35 David Millar (Garmin-Sharp), Cyril Gautier (Europcar), Robert Kiserlovski (Astana), Jean-Christophe Peraud (Ag2r-La Mondiale) and Egoi Martínez (Euskaltel-Euskadi) now lead the stage almost three minutes ahead of the maillot jaune while there are a couple of chasing groups made up of the earlier breakaway riders and maillotvertPeterSagan (Liquigas-Cannondale) who escaped from the main bunch on the descent of the Col du Granier.

12.25 Robert Kiserlovski (Astana) was, again, the first man over the top of the category one climb to take another 10 points in the mountains classification. The next major part of today's stage will be the intermediate sprint in around 70km.

12.20 Bradley Wiggins has made a move off the front of the main peloton! Not quite sure what the thinking is, perhaps the Briton is just flexing his muscle to show his rivals who's the boss?

12.15 As the gradient on the Grandon ramps up a number of riders are struggling - Europcar's PierreRolland and Thomas Voeckler are having trouble following their exertions over the previous two days. The leaders are 1km from the summit. David Millar (Garmin-Sharp) is looking strong in the lead group.

12.00 The lead group have been caught by Egoi Martínez (Euskaltel-Euskadi) while the counter-attack group now feature six riders and includes Jens Voigt (RadioShack-Nissan) and Jérémy Roy (FDJ-BigMat).

Once again Team Sky are riding out on the front as they protect the maillotjaune.

Cadel Evans (BMC Racing), after losing more time to Bradley Wiggins (Team Sky) in the general classification on Thursday has said he hasn't given up his defence of the Tour.

"Every time I lose time and the further I slip back the chances of the win are diminished but we're still in with a chance," the Aussie said ahead of today's stage. "And for that reason I'm not going to give up."

11.45 Tom Veelers (Argos-Shimano) has just abandoned the race - 164 riders remain out of the 198 who started in Liège on June 30.

Meanwhile, the lead group, who 2mins 30secs up the road from the peloton, are on their way up to the summit of the Col du Granier. Compared with a couple of yesterday's climbs this, at 9.7km is a mere pimple.

From Saint-Pierre d’Entremont to Epernay (850m, 5.2km) the ascent, in the company of a number of small communities, is relatively unchallenging. The last 4.4 kilometres are stiffer to the col and an open viewpoint, where a restaurant puffs its tarte aux myrtilles maison (home- made bilberry tart). For this, alas, I cannot vouch. To my chagrin the place was shut, for, as you may know from earlier volumes, I will not gladly pass up the chance to sample such friandises …(yum) delicacies.

The descent – gradients of around 7 per cent average – on the continuation of the D912 north gives a splendid view over Chambéry. Mont Granier, whose cliffs tower above the col, stands stark against the sky in the form of an anvil.

Note: There is an alternative northern approach from Saint-Badolph (311m, 11.6km), height gained 823m, maximum gradient 10 per cent, not described here in full. A fairly relaxed opener of 2 kilometres gives onto 4 quite severe kilometres of up to 10 per cent but then levels into no more than 4.5 per cent before a final run of 4 kilometres at 6–6.5per cent to the col.

The D285 heaves itself up from the Isère valley past grazing meadows and fields lined with vines into open country at Palud (451m, 2.7km). The citadel of Mont Granier looms overhead. The road curls into woodland and after a blast of around 9.5per cent, the gradient slackens for a way, the hairpins flatten out, views of the bulk of the rock bluffs appear from time to time and the fluent swing of the road makes this a delight. At around 4 kilometres from the top, the gradient worsens again, 9–10.5per cent and the hairpins impart more of a jolt, accordingly.

This woodland forms part of the Réserve Naturel des Hauts de Chartreuse. One hundred million years ago, the chalk of the cliffs overhead formed the bed of a warm sea. As the alpine chain thrust up from the sea floor, the layers of rock were folded and raised above the water, which later receded. As erosion set in, the long gutter, the bottom of a great fold stretching from Mont Granier to the Dent de Crolles, was left in place.

The Legend of the Chasms

One night in 1248, part of the Granier’s cliff wall came down and initiated a massive earth slide and, in a few minutes, some 600 square metres of mud and rock engulfed an area of 30 square kilometres to a depth of 40 metres. Five parishes were buried and some thousand people with them. The catastrophe was, in tune with the nervous disposition of the God-fearing time, attributed to divine vengeance for misdeed.

The story went that one of the Comte de Savoie’s councillors had expropriated a priory in Saint-André on the eastern side of the Granier and kicked out the religious who lived there. They prayed for succour to the Virgin of the Convent of Notre Dame de Myans, a little way to the north. Hail and tempests, earth tremors and upheaval ensued, invoked by ‘the agency of demons’ and with such prodigious effect that the top of the mountain fell and crushed Saint-André but, lo, the Virgin of Myans drove back the demons and the convent was spared.

This pietistic fable may owe something to verses in that febrile unhinged prophesy of Apocalypse dreamed up by the man John on the arid rock of Patmos in the days of his unselfing (Revelation vi: 13–17):

And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind. And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places. And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains; And said to the mountains and rocks ‘Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?’

Taken as a chain of cols, the Porte, Cucheron and Granier in whichever direction offer a terrific blast of riding, and it was on the north-south trajectory that the Spaniard Luis Ocaña took a serious chunk of time out of a hitherto dominant Eddy Merckx.

11.00 Morning all and welcome to our, rather late running, live blog from stage 12 of the Tour de France.

Today's the longest stage of this year's race and features two category one climbs and a third category ascent in the final 20km. The riders have already crested the first climb, the Col du Grand Cucheron. Robert Kiserlovski (Astana) extended picked up another 10 points in the mountains classification ahead of Jean-Christophe Peraud (Ag2r-La Mondiale) and Yaroslav Popovych (RadioShack-Nissan).

Here are today's odds ...

The bookies are guarding against PeterSagan recording his fourth stage victory today, pricing the current green jersey holder at just 4/1 for the win. SylvainChavanel follows in the betting and is well backed at 14/1 ahead of Luis León Sánchez at 17/1.

The big movers, according to leading odds comparison site Oddschecker.com, include Pieter Weening, winner of a stage back in 2005 and part of yesterday’s initial breakaway, who has been backed from 200/1 into 50/1 in places. Samuel Dumoulin, close to victory a couple of times this year and a stage winner in previous tours, has also received support and is now 66/1 from 200/1.

Jean-François Pescheux, the Tour’s technical director, says today will be a "strategic" day in the saddle.

"Yet another strategic stage, one which could tip the balance in the points classification on its own. Why? Because we have adorned the first part of this long stage with the Col de Grand Cucheron and the Col du Granier.

"The latter will be climbed on its most difficult side. A high pace will knock out the sprinters, favouring riders who are fast and capable of hanging onto the bunch on climbs. We will insist that time limits be applied strictly, so I bet many riders will get fidgety, and some of them will not forget the finish in Annonay any time soon..."